Having tackled one iconic entertainment industry figure in Hitchcock, writer John McLaughlin and producer Tom Thayer are moving on to another. The pair have struck a deal with the estate of Johnny Carson for a biopic about the late Tonight Show host, based on the Bill Zehme biography Carson The Magnificent: An Intimate Portrait.

Even longtime fans of Carson may find that the film reveals a side of him they never knew. For all his gregariousness in front of the camera, the host was notoriously private off-camera. More details after the jump.